Turkey Recalls Sweden Envoy after Parliament Recognizes Genocide

STOCKHOLM—The Parliament of Sweden on Thursday, recognized the Armenian Genocide after a long debate with a vote of 131 to 130. This prompted Turkey to recall is ambassador to Sweden, reported Armenian National Committee of Sweden chairwoman Suzanne Khardalian.

“I have been instructed to go back to Turkey,” said Zergun Koruturk, Turkey’s ambassador to Sweden. “It is logical. I am very, very disappointed,” reported the Stockholm News.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also cancelled his planned visit to Sweden.

“We strongly condemn this resolution, which is made for political calculations. It does not correspond to the close friendship of our two nations. We are recalling our ambassador for consultations,” Erdogan said in a statement on his website.

The decision comes just one week after the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to adopt the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.252), by a vote of 23-22 – despite last minute opposition from the Obama Administration and over intense lobbying by the Turkish Government. A similar measure has been introduced in the U.S. Senate, S.Res.316.

“Twice in just one week, we have seen legislative bodies – the House Foreign Affairs Committee in the United States and the full Parliament in Sweden – take a strong stand against Turkey’s threats against an honest affirmation of the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We congratulate the Swedish Parliamentarians – particularly those who defied party politics and foreign intimidation – to send a clear message that genocide must be condemned whenever and wherever it occurs.”

The resolution mandates Sweden to officially describe the large-scale murders of Armenians and other ethnic groups in Turkey in the early years of the last century as genocide.

The motion was supported by members of five of the seven Swedish parliamentary parties including the Left Party, whose foreign policy spokesperson Hans Linde told The Local newspaper on Thursday that the time had come for Sweden to take a stand on the issue.

The governing center-right coalition opposed the measure, but it passed because a handful of center-right lawmakers sided with the left-leaning opposition, which had proposed the resolution.

“First, to learn from history and stop it from repeating and second, to encourage the development of democracy in Turkey, which includes dealing with its own history. The third reason is to redress the wrongs committed against the victims and their relatives,” added Linde.

The committee in its comments on the motion argued for an open debate on the issue. It also stated that the persecution of the Armenians and other ethnic groups in 1915 would have constituted genocide according to the definition adopted by the United Nations in its 1948 genocide convention if it “had it been in force at the time.”

The resolution adopted today (by 131 for, 130 against) has previously been refused by the Swedish Parliament. The change can be attributed to a change of policy by the Social Democrats, who at their last party Congress, October 30, 2009, adopted a policy of recognizing the genocide carried out against the Armenians, Assyrian/Chaldeans, Pontic Greeks and Roma and others during 1914-1918 in the then Ottoman Empire. The Swedish Christian Social Democrats, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and the Social Democrat party members of Assyrian origin played important roles in obtaining this policy change.

ANC Arizona Activists Visit Rep. Gifford's Office

TUCSON—The Armenian National Committee of Arizona visited the office of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) on March 2nd as the House Foreign Affairs Committee prepared to mark-up the measure on March 4th. The meeting was led by ANC of Arizona Chairman Yervant Baltajian, who was joined by community activists and constituents Ani and Artie Ehranjian and Sevag Boyadjian.

“We appreciate Congresswoman Giffords’ support of H. Res. 252 and her ability to stand strong against Turkey’s gag rule,” said ANC of Arizona Chairman Yervant Baltajian. “We look forward to building a stronger relationship with the Congresswoman and working closely with her on issues of concern to the Armenian American community.”

Activists discussed a broad range of concerns to the Armenian American community and updated the Congresswoman’s staff, Gabe Zimmerman, on the Armenian Genocide Resolution – H. Res. 252 and the importance of ending the cycle of genocide.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She supported H. Res. 252 during the markup of the resolution on March 4th. She also voted for the Armenian Genocide Resolution in the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2007.

“Congresswoman Giffords joined her colleagues in sending a powerful but simple message: Turkey doesn’t get a vote or a veto in the U.S. Congress,” stated ANCA-WR Government Relations Director Lerna Shirinian. “We look forward to working with the Congresswoman on this and other initiatives to help end the cycle of genocide,” she added.

H.Res.252, introduced in March of 2009 by lead sponsors Adam Schiff and George Radanovich (R-CA), and Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL), currently has over 137 cosponsors. A parallel Senate measure, spearheaded by Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and John Ensign (R-NV), has 13 cosponsors. Efforts to recognize the Armenian Genocide have been welcomed by a broad range of coalition partners from the Greek, Jewish, Christian and genocide-prevention constituencies. Following a year-long mobilization of the ANCA and Armenian American grassroots activists across the country, H.Res. 252 passed the House Foreign Relations Committee on March 4th with the leadership of Chairman Howard Berman.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters and supporters throughout the United States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of issues.

Sarkisian Not Optimistic About Protocols

PARIS (RFE/RL)—President Serzh Sarkisian has suggested that Turkey will not unconditionally normalize relations with Armenia anytime soon and again threatened to annul the universally welcomed agreements signed by the two nations last October.

In an interview with the French daily “Le Figaro” published on Thursday, Sarkisian also warned that Ankara’s reluctance to ratify them is swelling the ranks of Armenians opposed to his conciliatory policy on Turkey.

“Our desire to establish normal relations is great,” he said. “However, recent statements from Turkey make me think that they will not ratify the protocols in the foreseeable future.

“We had warned that if we become convinced that the Turks are using the normalization process for other purposes we will take appropriate steps. In that case, we will withdraw our signature from the protocols.”

According to Sarkisian, the two governments agreed to put the protocols into practice “within a reasonable time frame and without preconditions” when they inked the deal in Zurich in October 2009. “We have said that Armenia would ratify the protocols immediately after their ratification by Turkey,” he said. “And yet Turkey keeps putting forward preconditions for their ratification, the most important of them relating to Nagorno-Karabakh.”

Sarkisian again avoided setting any deadlines for the Turkish ratification. Officials from his administration implied earlier that the Turkish leadership has until the end of March to endorse the agreements or face their unilateral repeal by Armenia. However, the latest indications are that Yerevan is ready to wait at least until the April 24.

Sarkisian told “Le Figaro” that his Turkish policy has caused “a great deal of concern among Armenians around the world.” “As a result of the dragging out of the normalization process, the number of [Armenian] supporters of the protocols is increasingly dwindling,” he warned.

The Armenian leader also reaffirmed Yerevan’s strong support for the passage of a U.S. congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian massacres as genocide. “But the U.S. Congress and State Department hardly make decisions based on our views or wishes,” he added.

On a related matter, in what was his second visit abroad in less than two months, former President Robert Kocharian met with his former French counterpart Jacques Chirac in Paris on Wednesday, his office confirmed the next day.

A spokesman for Kocharian, Victor Soghomonian, declined to divulge any details of the meeting. He told RFE/RL only that the ex-president is paying a “private visit” to France and will return to Armenia “in the coming days.”

The trip coincided with Sarkisian’s official visit to Paris.

Kocharian, who has kept a low profile since handing over power to Sarkisian in April 2008, already visited Tehran in late January for talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Both his office and the Armenian Foreign Ministry insisted that the ex-president met them in his private capacity.